User blog:Mndarrr/Butterfly Trapping
We get lots of questions about how to catch your first butterfly or finding a specific butterfly that should be there but isn't. I thought it might be about time to write up a short and sweet how-to guide that explains butterflies and butterfly catching. Empty your backpack as much as you can to leave room for catching the butterflies you want. 7 to 9 open backpack spots is ideal, and will let you focus on catching and not on having to sell something everytime you pick something else up. Then find a location - locations with 4 or more butterflies out at a time makes this process much faster. Especially if you're hunting down Achievements or materials to make Fishing Lures. And if you are in for the long haul clear the area of trees that might get in your way. Step 1: Pick a target If you hover over the little thing flapping around on your screen, you will see the name of the butterfly - so if you happen to be hunting for a specific type of butterfly using the quick hover-over is an easy way to tell if that's actually the Anna's 88 and not the 89'98. Step 2: Planning Trajectory Some of the butterflies travel quickly and erratically so planning out which set of trees to run around can be frustrating. The Cruiser, for instance, is very appropriately named because it travels all over almost as fast as you can run. But if you can figure out which direction your target butterfly is heading, try running to that point instead of its current location. Step 3: Run towards it Click somewhere on the ground near your target butterfly to run towards it. There is no fancy equipment or nets needed to pick them up - you just need to run into them. Step 4: Respawning (Note: If you are having trouble and either not seeing any butterflies or not seeing them respawn, refresh the page and try clearing your browser cache to fix the problem.) This is the step most people may not realize exists as a game feature. Each location has a set number/range of butterflies that will be out flying around at one time. It may be any combination of what is listed on the wiki or what you find on the maps in your Almanac - but it should be within a set range. So if a location usually has 2 butterflies out, and the map says you should find Monarchs, Peacocks and Southern Festoons, you will probably only see two types (Monarchs and Southern Festoons, for instance) or two of the same type of butterfly (two Monarchs). If you are heading to a location in search of one particular type of butterfly (the White Barred Emperor or the Danube Clouded Yellow are the most popular of the rare ones) and you do not see it flying around- run around and catch all the butterflies at your location and wait a few seconds for the butterflies to respawn. Most locations will respawn within 15 to 30 seconds, though sometimes it's as long as a minute. For butterflies like those listed above that have a low spawn rate, you may need to repeat this part once or twice to finally get the one you're looking for. Your Folk will teleport to the other side of the location as long as you are slightly over halfway across the location from where you click. If a butterfly is halfway across your location, run the opposite direction a few paces and then try to click on the farthest edge from you (where the butterfly is). It'll save you some time and frustration as you hunt down one that flew into some thick trees. *Disclaimer - it's not very secret, I know. But this is here just in case. <3 Often times when you go catching butterflies, you'll find that a location has only a few (4 or 5) butterflies at a time. You may catch them all and wait a while for more to spawn, or you may go to another location and find the same thing there. Try this little trick to get more butterflies to appear at a location: # Run your energy low (hop to some other locations and come back, or whatever it takes, but make sure your energy is down to 5 or so). # Catch butterflies, using 1 energy each time, until your energy is 0. # Attempt to catch another butterfly. You will be prompted to open your backpack - do so, and eat some food. # Close your backpack and your location should now be swamped with butterflies, enabling you to catch continuously without having to wait for them to respawn. I have had occasions where this didn't work, but it does work most of the time. Warning: This may cause your game to lag, if you experience extreme lag (it becomes choppy or the game freezes), just refresh your browser. Happy Trapping, fellow Lepidopterists! Mndarrr (talk) 00:54, July 19, 2013 (UTC) Category:Blog posts Category:Guides